Chaudhari, Bischak, & Simmons Applied Methods | Dr. Alex Karner Spring ’18
The Impact of Amazon HQ2 on Potential MSAs Aim Conduct a planning related analysis of the effects of Amazon’s HQ2 on potential cities.
Background Amazon is an American company supplying web hosting services, online retail services, video streaming services, and online delivery services. It is currently the world’s largest online retailer. Amazon is currently headquartered in Seattle, Washington, but in September of 2017 it announced its plans to seek a second home in North America.1 This so called ‘HQ2’ will serve as a second headquarters for Amazon and may employ as many as 50,000 and generate over $5 billion in capital expenditures.2 Amazon solicited requests for proposals from any city in North America. According to the Amazon Request for proposal (RFP), Amazon is seeking a site at the least the four following characteristics:3 •
Metropolitan areas with more than one million people
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A stable and business-friendly environment
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Urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent
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Communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options
Additionally, Amazon prefers a site that is within 30 minutes’ drive of the population center, proximate to an international airport, has access to mass transit at the site, is large enough to accommodate a 500,000+ sq. ft. building. After the initial RFP was put out by Amazon the RFP generated at least 238 responses.4 This list was eventually narrowed down to a final list of 20 cities which are: •
Atlanta
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Austin
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Boston
“A New Amazon Headquarters Could Be Coming to a City near You.” “Amazon HQ2 RFP.” 3 “Amazon HQ2 RFP.” 4 “Amazon Refuses Arizona’s Cactus as Bidders for HQ2 Climb to 118.” 1 2